Vehicle safety system and operating method thereof

ABSTRACT

There is provided a vehicle safety system including a sensing unit, a processing unit, a control unit and a display unit. The sensing unit is configured to capture an image frame containing an eyeball image from a predetermined distance. The processing unit is configured to calculate a pupil position of the eyeball image in the image frame and generate a drive signal corresponding to the pupil position. The control unit is configured to trigger a vehicle device associated with the pupil position according to the drive signal. The display unit is configured to show information of the vehicle device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on and claims priority to TaiwaneseApplication Number 103123744, filed Jul. 9, 2014, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure generally relates to a vehicle safety system and, moreparticularly, to a vehicle safety system and an operating method thereofutilizing pupil detection technique.

2. Description of the Related Art

A car generally has two side view mirrors and one rear view mirrorrespectively disposed at fixed positions outside and inside of the car.For example, when a driver intends to observe a status of the right rearof the car, he/she has to watch the right side view mirror to observethe status of the right rear of the car. However, when the driver moveshis/her head to watch the side/rear view mirror, his/her line of sightis temperately left from a front of the car and the risk of car accidentis then increased. To improve driving safety, the related industryprovides several kinds of vehicle safety systems to overcome the demeritof the side/rear view mirrors.

In the conventional vehicle safety system, for example, a plurality ofparking sensors is disposed at the rear bumper of a car. When a driverputs the car in reverse gear, the plurality of parking sensors detectwhether the car is approaching an object, e.g. another car or a wall.When the car is approaching the object, a parking sensor systemgenerates an alert sound to warn the driver. The driver may know adistance between the car and the object according to a variation of thesound (e.g. a variation of frequency).

With the popularity of cameras and display devices, a camera may befurther installed at the rear of the car. When the driver puts the carin reverse gear, the parking sensors and the camera are activatedsimultaneously. Meanwhile, a display device inside the car provides areal time video through the camera. Accordingly, the driver is able toconfirm the status behind the car according to the real time video so asto avoid bumping.

Similarly, to ensure driving safety, cameras may be further installed atthe side view mirrors of the car to monitor the blind spot of the sideview mirrors. However, the display device is generally disposed on thecentral console inside the car. When the driver intends to confirm thestatus around the car through the cameras, he/she has to move his/herhead to watch the real time video on the display device. At this time,the line of sight of the driver leaves the front of the car and the riskof car accident is also increased.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a vehicle safety system andan operating method thereof utilizing pupil detection technique.

The present disclosure provides a vehicle safety system which tracks apupil position of a driver to determine whether to trigger a vehicledevice and displays information of the vehicle device to the driver.

The present disclosure further provides a vehicle safety system which isable to allow a driver to keep his/her line of sight in front of avehicle without moving his/her head to watch a side/rear view mirror ora display.

The present disclosure provides a vehicle safety system. The vehiclesafety system includes a sensing unit, a processing unit, a vehiclecontrol device and a display unit. The sensing unit is configured tocapture an image frame containing an eyeball image of an eyeball from apredetermined distance. The processing unit is configured to calculate apupil position of the eyeball image in the image frame and generate adrive signal corresponding to the pupil position. The vehicle controldevice is configured to trigger a vehicle device associated with thepupil position according to the drive signal. The display unit isconfigured to show information of the vehicle device.

The present disclosure further provides a vehicle safety system. Thevehicle safety system includes a light source, a sensing unit, aprocessing unit, a control unit and a display unit. The light source isconfigured to emit light toward an eyeball to generate at least oneglint on the eyeball. The sensing unit is configured to capture an imageframe containing at least one glint image of the at least one glint. Theprocessing unit is configured to determine an eyeball image rangeaccording to the at least one glint image in the image frame, calculatea pupil position according to the at least one glint image and a pupilimage in the eyeball image range and generate a drive signalcorresponding to the pupil position accordingly. The control unit isconfigured to trigger a vehicle device associated with the pupilposition according to the drive signal. The display unit is configuredto show information of the vehicle device.

The present disclosure further provides an operating method of a vehiclesafety system. The operating method includes the steps of: emitting, bya light source, light toward an eyeball to generate at least one glinton the eyeball; capturing an image frame containing an eyeball image ofthe eyeball; calculating, by a processing unit, a pupil position of theeyeball image in the image frame and generating a drive signalcorresponding to the pupil position; triggering a vehicle deviceassociated with the pupil position according to the drive signal; andshowing, by a display unit, information of the vehicle device, whereinin the step of calculating a pupil position of the eyeball image in theimage frame the pupil position is determined according to a spatialrelationship between a pupil image and at least one glint image in theimage frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present disclosurewill become more apparent from the following detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle safety system according to afirst embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of calculating a pupil position accordingto an image frame captured by a sensing unit.

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of an image frame captured by a sensingunit.

FIG. 3A is schematic diagram of a pupil position and a sub-region of aneyeball image mapped into a two dimensional space.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of an eyeball image divided into twosub-regions.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a vehicle safety system according to asecond embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an image frame captured by a sensingunit.

FIG. 5A is a flow chart of an operating method of a vehicle safetysystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an operating method of a vehicle safetysystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

It should be noted that, wherever possible, the same reference numberswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle safety system 1 according toa first embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle safety system1 is configured to control or activate, according to a pupil position ofan eyeball 9, a vehicle device corresponding to the pupil position. Thevehicle safety system 1 includes a sensing unit 10, a processing unit12, a control unit 14, at least one vehicle device 16 and a display unit18.

The sensing unit 10 is configured to capture an image frame IFcontaining an eyeball image of the eyeball 9 from a predetermineddistance. The sensing unit 10 is, for example, a charge couple device(CCD) image sensor, a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)image sensor or other sensors that are configured to sense light energy.

Generally speaking, when the eyeball 9 looks downward, the eyelid maycover a part of the eyeball 9. Therefore, in some embodiments, if thesensing unit 10 is disposed on a side of eyeglasses 2 facing the eyeball9 as shown in FIG. 1, a disposed position of the sensing unit 10 islower than the eyeball 9 such that the vehicle safety system 1 is stillable to detect the pupil position through the sensing unit 10 when theeyeball 9 is looking downward.

In some embodiments, the sensing unit 10 may be hung on the eyeglasses 2or integrated into the eyeglasses 2, but the present disclosure is notlimited thereto. In other embodiments, the sensing unit 10 may bedisposed on a headwear accessory or a portable device. For example, thesensing unit 10 may be clamped to the brim of a hat so as to captureimage frames IF from a substantially fixed predetermined distance.

In addition, when the sensing unit 10 is disposed on the eyeglasses 2 orthe headwear accessory worn by a user, the eyeglasses 2 or the headwearaccessory moves along with the user's head so that the sensing unit 10keeps the predetermined distance from the eyeball 9. Therefore, theeyeball 9 is always in a field of view of the sensing unit 10.

The processing unit 12 is, for example, a digital signal processor orother processing devices for processing image data. The processing unit12 is configured to calculate a pupil position of the eyeball image inthe image frame IF and generate a drive signal S corresponding to thepupil position. After the sensing unit 10 captures the image frame IF,the image frame IF is transmitted to the processing unit 12 for imagepost-processing in a wired or wireless manner. For example, when thesensing unit 10 is disposed on the eyeglasses 2 and the processing unit12 is disposed inside a vehicle, the sensing unit 10 transmits the imageframe IF to the processing unit 12 through a transmission line (e.g. anRS-232 transmission line or a USB transmission line). For convenientusing, in some embodiments, the sensing unit 10 transmits the imageframe IF to the processing unit 12 in a wireless manner (e.g. Bluetoothor Wi-Fi). Therefore, no matter whether the processing unit 12 and thesensing unit 10 are both disposed on the eyeglasses 2 or not, theprocessing unit 12 is able to receive the image frame IF from thesensing unit 10.

Although the processing unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 is separated from thesensing unit 10, it is only intended to illustrate but not to limit thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, the sensing unit 10 and theprocessing unit 12 may be integrated in a same chip, i.e. the chiphaving both functions of image sensing and data processing. For example,the processing unit 12 is a digital signal processing circuit and thesensing unit 10 is a sensing pixel array, and the image frame IFgenerated by the sensing unit 10 is transmitted to the processing unit12 for processing through, for example, I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit).Likewise, in other embodiments, the processing unit 12 has a similarhardware structure to a central processing unit.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2A together, FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram ofcalculating a pupil position according to an image frame IF₁ captured bythe sensing unit 10. The image frame IF₁ contains an eyeball image 9_(e) and an eye surrounding image 9 _(s), and the eyeball image 9 _(e)includes a pupil image 9 _(p) and a white of the eye image 9 _(w). Inthe present disclosure, the processing unit 12 calculates a gray valueof each pixel in the image frame IF₁ to determine a pupil positionaccordingly. For example, a resolution of the image frame IF₁ is 80×60(i.e. 4800 pixels), and the processing unit 12 directly determines thepupil position as P₁ according to the pixel having a lowest gray valueG₁ among the pixels.

In some embodiments, the vehicle safety system 1 calibrates the field ofview of the sensing unit 10 in advance so that (1) the image frame IF₁captured by the sensing unit 10 may contain less of the eye surroundingimage 9 _(s) or not contain the eye surrounding image 9 _(s); and (2)the eyeball image 9 _(e) may be located at a center position of theimage frame IF₁. Accordingly, accuracy of the processing unit 12calculating the pupil position is improved.

In one embodiment, since the brightness of the pupil image 9 _(p) islower than that of the white of the eye image 9 _(w), the processingunit 12 may determine a pupil position according to a relatively darkregion in the image frame IF₁. For example, after calculating a positionof the lowest gray value G₁, the processing unit 12 identifies aplurality of pixels around the lowest gray value G₁ and having grayvalues within a gray value range R_(g) as a pupil region A. Then, theprocessing unit 12 determines the pupil position as P₂ according to agravity center or a center of the pupil region A_(p). It is appreciatedthat the pupil position P₂ may not be equal to the positioncorresponding to the lowest gray value G₁, e.g. P₁. In addition, pixelregions neighboring to the lowest gray value G₁ and adjacent to eachother may be defined as a same object by using, for example, imagegrouping technique so as to determine the pupil region A_(p), whereinthe principle of the image grouping is well known, and thus detailsthereof are not described herein. The calculation method of theprocessing unit 12 is not limited to those described above. Imageprocessing algorithms that may calculate a pupil position/position ofwhite of the eye through the image frame IF₁ are adaptable to thepresent disclosure.

In addition, the vehicle safety system 1 may further include a lightsource 11 configured to emit light toward the eyeball 9 to generate atleast one glint on the eyeball 9, and the processing unit 12 maydetermine the pupil position according to a spatial relationship betweena pupil image and at least one glint image in the image frame. Morespecifically speaking, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2B together, FIG. 2B isa schematic diagram of another image frame IF, captured by the sensingunit 10, wherein the image frame IF₂ contains a pupil image 9 _(p) and aglint image I₁₁. For example, the pupil image 9 _(p) and the glint imageI₁₁ respectively have a smallest gray value and a largest gray value inthe image frame IF₂. Then, the processing unit 12 calculates a variationof a relative distance d between the pupil image 9 _(p) and the glintimage I₁₁ in the image frame IF₂ to track the pupil and to accordinglydetermine the pupil position. In addition, the light source 11 may format least two glint images (e.g. glint images I₁₁ and I₁₁′) on theeyeball 9, and the processing unit 12 uses a plurality of glint imagesto calculate the pupil position. The pupil positioning may be referredto, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/054,724, entitled“PUPIL DETECTION DEVICE” and assigned to the same assignee of thepresent disclosure.

It is appreciated that since the sensing unit 10 keeps the predetermineddistance from the eyeball 9, and the spatial relationship between thelight source 11 and the eyeball 9 is kept unchanged, the glint on theeyeball 9 generated by the light source 11 does not change its positionalong with the movement of the user's head. Therefore, no matter whetherthe user's head is moving or not, the glint image I₁₁ (or the glintimage I₁₁′) in the image frame IF₂ captured by the sensing unit 10 isdefined as a fixed reference point so that the processing unit 12 maycalculate the variation of the relative distance d between the pupilimage 9 _(p) and the glint image I₁₁ to track the pupil positionaccordingly.

The control unit 14 is configured to trigger the vehicle device 16corresponding to the pupil position according to the drive signal Sgenerated by the processing unit 12, wherein the control unit 14 may bea vehicular computer or be integrated with the processing unit 12. Thevehicular device 16 is, for example, a vehicle navigation device, a sideview camera or a rear view camera, but not limited thereto.

It should be mentioned that as shown in FIG. 3A, after calculating thepupil position (e.g. the pupil position P₁ in FIG. 2A), the processingunit 12 may map the pupil position P₁ and the region of the eyeballimage 9 _(e) to a two dimensional space 2DS, wherein the two dimensionalspace 2DS may be divided, for example, into 9 sub-regions Z₁-Z₉ and eachof the sub-regions may or may not correspond to a vehicle device,respectively. Therefore, the processing unit 12 may generate the drivesignal S of the vehicle device corresponding to the pupil position P₁according to the sub-region that the pupil position P₁ locates. Itshould be mentioned that the number and arrangement of the sub-regionsdescribed above are only exemplary but not to limit the presentdisclosure.

Finally, when the control unit 14 controls the vehicle device 16according to the drive signal S, the vehicle device 16 may outputinformation to a display unit for a driver to watch. For example, thevehicle safety system 1 in FIG. 1 further includes a display unit 18configured to show the information of the vehicle device 16, wherein thedisplay unit 18 may be a micro projection display (e.g. liquid crystalon silicon) disposed on the eyeglasses 2, but not limited thereto. Inother embodiments, the display unit 18 may be a liquid crystal displaydisposed on the vehicle windshield or a head-up display disposedon/above the instrument panel. For ensuring driving safety, in someembodiments, the display unit 18 may be located between a front of thevehicle and the driver (or the eyeball 9) and transparent to visiblelight.

For example, the sub-regions Z₁, Z₃, Z₇ and Z₉ in FIG. 3A respectivelycorresponds to a vehicle navigation device, a rear view camera, a leftside view camera or a right side view camera. When the pupil position P₁enters the sub-region Z₁, the drive signal S generated by the processingunit 12 controls the vehicle navigation device. When the pupil positionP₁ enters the sub-region Z₃, the drive signal S controls the rear viewcamera. When the pupil position P₁ enters the sub-region Z₇, the drivesignal S controls the left side view camera. When the pupil position P₁enters the sub-region Z₉, the drive signal S controls the right sideview camera. Then, the display unit 18 correspondingly shows informationof the vehicle navigation device, the rear view camera, the left sideview camera or the right side view camera. Accordingly, the vehiclesafety system 1 may control the corresponding vehicle device accordingto the pupil position of the driver and show information in front of thedriver to ensure driving safety.

In one embodiment, information of the vehicle navigation device may be aguidance route, a map or a road condition; and information of the rearview camera, the left side view camera and the right side view cameramay be an image or an estimated distance.

It is appreciated that the sub-regions Z₂, Z₄-Z₆ and Z₈ in FIG. 3A maynot correspond to any vehicle device. For example, when the pupilposition P₁ stays in one of the sub-regions Z₂, Z₄-Z₆ and Z₈, thedisplay unit 18 does not show any information. That is to say, when thepupil position P₁ enters the sub-regions Z₂, Z₄-Z₆ or Z₈ from thesub-regions Z₁, Z₃, Z₇ or Z₉, the display unit 18 then stops showinginformation corresponding to the vehicle device. In addition, sizes ofthe sub-regions Z₁-Z₉ may be optimized through experiment to preventfrom disturbing the line of sight of the driver (i.e. to prevent fromaccidentally triggering a vehicle device).

Apart from mapping the pupil position P₁ and the region of the eyeballimage 9 _(e) to the two dimensional space 2DS, the processing unit 12may further identify whether the pupil position P₁ is to control thevehicle device in other manners.

In one embodiment, when the vehicle safety system 1 includes the lightsource 11 (as shown in FIG. 1), the image frame IF₂ captured by thesensing unit 10 contains the pupil image 9 _(p) and the glint images I₁₁and I₁₁′ (as shown in FIG. 2B). Then, the processing unit 12 generatesthe drive signal S according to a relative position between the pupilimage 9 _(p) (or the pupil position thereof) and the glint images I₁₁and I₁₁′ for the control unit 14 to trigger a vehicle device associatedwith the pupil position according to the drive signal S. For example,when the pupil position is located between the glint images I₁₁ andI₁₁′, and the control unit 14 may not trigger any vehicle device. Whenthe pupil position is not located between the glint images I₁₁ and I₁₁′but located at the left side of the glint image I₁₁, the control unit 14may trigger the left side view camera. And, when the pupil position isnot located between the glint images I₁₁ and I₁₁′ but located at theright side of the glint image I₁₁′, the control unit 14 may trigger theright side view camera. Accordingly, the display unit 18 of the vehiclesafety system 1 may also show information that the driver needscorrectly. That is to say, the pupil position described herein may be anabsolute position or a relative position.

Since the brightness of the pupil is much lower than that of the whiteof the eye, the brightness of the pupil image 9 _(p) is much lower thanthat of the white of the eye image 9 _(w). Therefore, in anotherembodiment, the eyeball image 9 _(e) is divided into at least twosub-regions, e.g. the sub-regions Z_(A) and Z_(B) as shown in FIG. 3B,to respectively correspond to different functions, e.g. to control thevehicle device and not to control the vehicle device. The processingunit 12 respectively calculates an average gray value or a summation ofgray values of the sub-regions Z_(A) a nd Z_(B) t o identify thesub-region that the pupil position locates. For example, when theaverage gray value of the sub-region Z_(A) is smaller than that of thesub-region Z_(B), it means that the pupil position is located at thesub-region Z_(A), and then the control unit 14 does not control (orstops controlling) the vehicle device according to the drive signal Sgenerated by the processing unit 12, or the drive signal S is notgenerated by the processing unit 12 when the pupil position is locatedat the sub-region Z_(A). When the average gray value of the sub-regionZ_(A) is larger than that of the sub-region Z_(B), it means that thepupil position is located at the sub-region Z_(B), and the control unit14 then controls the vehicle device according to the drive signal Sgenerated by the processing unit 12. It is appreciated that the numberand size of the sub-regions are determined according to actualapplications.

On the other hand, since the sensing unit 10 may successively capture aplurality of image frames, the processing unit 12 may further identifywhether the pupil position is located at a predetermined position for apredetermined time interval, and if so, the drive signal S is thengenerated. For example, referring to FIG. 3A, it is assumed that thesensing unit 10 captures 5 image frames per second (i.e. a samplingcycle of the sensing unit 10 is 0.2 second), that the predeterminedposition is the sub-region Z₉ corresponding to the right side viewcamera and that the predetermined time is 1 second. When the pupilposition P₁ in the first image frame captured by the sensing unit 10 islocated at the sub-region Z₉, the processing unit 12 does not generatethe drive signal S immediately; and when the pupil positions P₁ in thesecond, third, fourth image frames captured by the sensing unit 10 arestill at the sub-region Z₉, the processing unit 12 does not generate thedrive signal S either. The processing unit 12 then generates the drivesignal S and the control unit 14 controls the right side view cameracorrespondingly until the pupil position P₁ in the fifth image framecaptured by the sensing unit 10 is still located at the sub-region Z₉,i.e. the pupil position is located at the predetermined position for thepredetermined time interval (0.2×5=1 second).

In addition, the processing unit 12 may further identify blinksaccording to a plurality of image frames outputted by the sensing unit10, and generates the drive signal S when identifying the pupil positionis at a predetermined position with a predetermined number of blinks.For example, referring to FIG. 3A continuously, it is assumed that theprocessing unit 12 may not generate the drive signal S immediately whenthe pupil position P₁ enters the sub-region Z₉ from the sub-region Z₅.After detecting two blinks, the processing unit 12 generates the drivesignal S to the control unit 14 to control the right side view cameracorrespondingly, but the number of blinks is not limited thereto.Therefore, the vehicle safety system 1 may control the vehicle devicewith a delay time or determine a time that the vehicle device is notcontrolled according to the pupil position at the predetermined positionfor the predetermined time interval and/or with the number of blinks.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a vehicle safety system 3 according toa second embodiment of the present disclosure. The vehicle safety system3 is configured to control or activate, according to a pupil position ofan eyeball 9, a vehicle device corresponding to the pupil position. Thevehicle safety system 3 includes a light source 11, a sensing unit 10, aprocessing unit 12, a control unit 14, a vehicle device 16 and a displayunit 18. In some embodiments, the sensing unit 10 is fixed inside avehicle, e.g. on a rear view mirror or a car roof inside the vehicle,but not limited thereto. The sensing unit 10 may be disposed on anappropriate position that an eyeball image is successfully captured bythe sensing unit 10.

The light source 11 is, for example, an infrared light source such as anIR LED so that the line of sight is not disturbed when the light source11 is turned on.

The light source 11 is configured to emit light toward the eyeball 9 togenerate at least one glint on the eyeball 9.

The sensing unit 10 is configured to capture an image frame containingat least one glint image of the at least one glint, wherein the sensingunit 10 captures the image frame with a field of view FOV. Since thesensing unit 10 is farther away from the eyeball 9 (compared with thedistance between the sensing unit 10 and the eyeball 9 in the firstembodiment), the image frames captured by the sensing unit 10 maycontain a part of face image I_(face), as the image frame IF₄ shown inFIG. 4B.

The processing unit 12 is, for example, a digital signal processor whichis configured to determine an eyeball image range according to the atleast one glint image in the image frame, calculate a pupil positionaccording to the at least one glint image and a pupil image in theeyeball image range and generate a drive signal S corresponding to thepupil position accordingly.

For example, referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B together, FIG. 4B is aschematic diagram of an image frame IF₄ captured by the sensing unit 10.Since the light source 11 generates a glint on the eyeball 9 so that theposition corresponding to the glint in the image frame IF4 may be thepixel having the largest gray value (e.g. the glint image I₁₁), thus theprocessing unit 12 may determine an eyeball image range R_(e) accordingto the glint image I₁₁.

In one embodiment, the eyeball image range R_(e) may be a predeterminedrange taking the glint image I₁₁ as a center, wherein a shape of thepredetermined range may be a rectangle, ellipsoid or circle, but notlimited thereto. In addition, since the brightness of the white of theeye image 9 _(w) is higher than that of the face image I_(face), thus aneyeball image range R_(e)′ may be determined by comparing gray values.For example, when a difference value between gray values of two adjacentpixels is within a gray value threshold range, the processing unit 12determines the eyeball image range R_(e)′ according to pixelscorresponding to the gray values. It is appreciated that the eyeballimage range R_(e) is larger than the eyeball image range R_(e)′.

After the eyeball image range R_(e) (or the eyeball image range R_(e)′)is confirmed, the processing unit 12 calculates a pupil positionaccording to the glint image I₁₁ and a pupil image (e.g. the pupil image9 _(p) in FIG. 4B) in the eyeball image range R_(e), and as thecalculation method is already described in the first embodiment, detailsthereof are not described herein.

In one embodiment, the processing unit 12 searches the eyeball imagerange R_(e) or R_(e)′ through conventional face recognition technology,and then calculates the pupil position.

The processing unit 12 and the sensing unit 10 in FIG. 4A are shown astwo independent elements for description only, but not to limit thepresent disclosure. As mentioned above, the processing unit 12 may be adigital signal processing circuit, and the sensing unit 10 may be asensing pixel array and integrated in a same chip.

It should be mentioned that since the sensing unit 10 is farther awayfrom the eyeball 9, even if the eyeball 9 does not leave the field ofview FOV of the sensing unit 10 when the user's head moves, a positionof the glint image I₁₁ in the image frame IF₄ captured by the sensingunit 10 may be changed due to the movement of the user's head so thatthe processing unit 12 is unable to correctly calculate the pupilposition. Therefore, in one embodiment, the vehicle safety system 3firstly identifies whether the user's head is kept unmoved for apredetermined time interval. F or example, the processing unit 12calculates distances between center positions of the eyeball imageranges R_(e) (or the eyeball images R_(e)′) in a plurality of imageframes captured by the sensing unit 10 for the predetermined timeinterval and identifies whether the distances are smaller than apredetermined value. When the vehicle safety system 3 identifies thatthe user's head is kept steady for the predetermined time interval, theprocessing unit 12 then calculates a pupil position according to atleast one glint image and a pupil image in the eyeball image range R_(e)or R_(e)′, and generates a drive signal S corresponding to the pupilposition accordingly.

The control unit 14 is disposed inside the vehicle, e.g. a vehiclecomputer or a vehicle control console, which is configured to triggerthe vehicle device 16 associated with the pupil position according tothe drive signal S. It is appreciated that since the processing unit 12is fixed on the rear view mirror and the sensing unit 14 is disposedinside the vehicle, the drive signal S generated by the processing unit12 may be transmitted to the control unit 14 in a wireless manner, butnot limited thereto.

Similarly, the vehicle device 16 is, for example, a vehicle navigationdevice, a side view camera or a rear view camera. The control unit 14triggers the vehicle device 16 associated with the pupil positionaccording to the drive signal S so that the display unit 18 may showinformation of the vehicle device 16.

In addition, similar to the first embodiment of the present disclosure,the processing unit 12 generates the drive signal S when identifying thepupil position is at a predetermined position for a predetermined timeinterval, or the processing unit 12 identifies blinks according to aplurality of image frames outputted by the sensing unit 10 and generatesthe drive signal S when identifying the pupil position is at apredetermined position with a predetermined number of blinks.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B together, FIG. 5A is a flow chart of anoperating method of a vehicle safety system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure, and FIG. 5B is a block diagram of anoperating method of a vehicle safety system according to one embodimentof the present disclosure.

The operating method of the vehicle safety system according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure includes the steps of: emitting, bya light source, light toward an eyeball to generate at least one glinton the eyeball (step S₁); capturing an image frame containing an eyeballimage of the eyeball (step S₂); calculating, by a processing unit, apupil position of the eyeball image in the image frame and generating adrive signal corresponding to the pupil position (step S₃); triggering avehicle device associated with the pupil position according to the drivesignal (step S₄); and showing, by a display unit, information of thevehicle device (step S₅), wherein in the step of calculating a pupilposition of the eyeball image in the image frame the pupil position isdetermined according to a spatial relationship between a pupil positionand at least one glint image in the image frame.

It should be mentioned that the light source in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure is configured to assist the processing unit incalculating the pupil position. Whether the light source is disposed inthe vehicle safety system is determined by the method that theprocessing unit calculates the pupil position.

In the above embodiments, a switch is further provided in the vehiclesafety system and configured for the user to activate or deactivate thevehicle safety system. For example, referring to FIG. 1, in oneembodiment of the present disclosure, the vehicle safety system 1 mayfurther include a switch (e.g. a touch button) integrated with theeyeglasses 2, and the user determines whether the vehicle safety system1 starts to track or stops stacking the pupil thereof through theswitch. Referring to FIG. 4A, in the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the vehicle safety system 3 may further include a switch(e.g. a physical button) integrated with a steering wheel, and the userdetermines whether the vehicle safety system 3 starts to track or stopsstacking the pupil thereof when holding the steering wheel, but notlimited thereto. The switch may also be implemented by detecting apredetermined gesture (e.g. an OK gesture) by the vehicle safety system.For example, in accordance with the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the vehicle safety system 3 further includes a gesturerecognition unit inside the vehicle (e.g. on a central console), and thegesture recognition unit identifies whether the user makes thepredetermined gesture according to images to activate or deactivate thevehicle safety system 3, wherein the images are captured by the sensingunit 10 or by an image sensor additionally disposed inside the vehicle(e.g. on the central console).

The operating method of the gesture recognition unit is well known, andthus details thereof are not described herein. Accordingly, the vehiclesafety system in the above embodiments may start to detect or stopdetecting according to the control of the switch or gesture so as toprevent control errors.

In the above embodiments, a plurality of vehicle devices may be disposedin one vehicle, and the control unit controls one of the plurality ofvehicle devices according to the drive signal generated by theprocessing unit.

In addition, the operating method of the vehicle safety system of thepresent disclosure is not limited to be operated with the vehicle safetysystem. As mentioned above, the present disclosure provides a processingunit that tracks a pupil position of a user through a sensing unit totrigger a device associated with the pupil position, and showsinformation of the device to the user. Therefore, in some embodiments,the operating method is adaptable to the virtual reality technology,e.g. a head mounted display or a simulator, and correspondingly controlsa virtual device according to the pupil position.

For example, referring to FIG. 1 continuously, it is assumed that thevehicle safety system 1 and the eyeglasses 2 is a headwear display;meanwhile, the vehicle device 16 may be a sensor, an input device orother content (e.g. a software program) corresponding to the virtualreality technology. Similarly, the processing unit 12 calculates a pupilposition through the image frame captured by the sensing unit 10, andtriggers a corresponding virtual reality sensor or content according tothe pupil position. The display unit 18 then shows informationassociated with the pupil position in front of the user so as toimplement human-machine interaction in the virtual reality.

For example, referring to FIG. 4A continuously, it is assumed that thevehicle safety system 3 is a driving simulator; meanwhile, the vehicledevice 16 may be a plurality of virtual vehicle devices (e.g. a softwareprogram), and the processing unit 12 triggers at least one of theplurality of virtual vehicle devices through a calculated pupilposition. Then, the display unit 18 shows information of the virtualvehicle device associated with the pupil position, e.g. a side viewimage or a rear view image, in a full screen, main/sub screen or splitscreen manner.

It is appreciated that when the operating method of the vehicle safetysystem is applied to the virtual reality, a host computer may havefunctions of the processing unit 12, the control unit 14 and the vehicledevice 16. That is to say, the processing unit 12, the control unit 14and the vehicle device 16 may be implemented by software computationthrough the host computer.

In one embodiment, the vehicle safety system further includes a lightsource configured to emit light toward the eyeball to generate at leastone glint on the eyeball, wherein the processing unit is configured todetermine the pupil position according to a spatial relationship betweena pupil image and at least one glint image in the image frame.

In one embodiment, the eyeball image is divided into at least twosub-regions respectively corresponding to different functions. Theprocessing unit respectively calculates a gray value of each of the atleast two sub-regions to identify the sub-region that the pupil positionlocates.

In one embodiment, when the processing unit identifies the pupilposition is at a predetermined position for a predetermined timeinterval, the drive signal is then generated.

In one embodiment, the processing unit further identifies blinksaccording to a plurality of image frames outputted by the sensing unit.When the processing unit identifies the pupil position is at apredetermined position with a predetermined number of blinks, the drivesignal is then generated.

The vehicle safety system according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure determines whether to trigger a vehicle device by identifyinga pupil position of a driver and shows information of the vehicle devicein front of the user. In addition, the vehicle safety system furtherdetermines whether to trigger the vehicle device by identifying thepupil position is at a predetermined position for a predetermined timeinterval or identifying the pupil position is at a predeterminedposition with a predetermined number of blinks so that the drivingsafety is improved without disturbing the driver's line of sight.

As mentioned above, the conventional vehicle safety system is generallydisposed on a car console panel inside the car, and the line of sight ofa driver must leave the front of the car when the driver moves his/herhead to confirm the status around the car through a display device.Therefore, the present disclosure provides a vehicle safety system (e.g.FIGS. 1 and 4A) and an operating method thereof (e.g. FIG. 5A) that maydetermine whether to trigger a vehicle device by identifying a pupilposition of the driver and show information of the vehicle device infront of the driver so as to improve the driving safety.

Although the disclosure has been explained in relation to its preferredembodiment, it is not used to limit the disclosure. It is to beunderstood that many other possible modifications and variations can bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle safety system comprising: a sensingunit configured to capture an image frame containing an eyeball image ofan eyeball from a predetermined distance; a processing unit configuredto divide the eyeball image into at least two sub-regions eachcorresponding to one of different functions, wherein each of thedifferent functions is configured to control one vehicle device;calculate a pupil position of the eyeball image in the image frame, andgenerate a drive signal corresponding to one of the at least twosub-regions in which the pupil position locates; and a control unitconfigured to trigger the vehicle device associated with the one of theat least two sub-regions in which the pupil position locates accordingto the drive signal.
 2. The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the processing unit is configured to respectively calculate agray value of each of the at least two sub-regions and identify thepupil position as one of the at least two sub-regions according to thecalculated gray values.
 3. The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim2, wherein the gray value is an average gray value or a summation ofgray values.
 4. The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe sensing unit is configured to transmit the image frame to theprocessing unit in a wired or wireless manner.
 5. The vehicle safetysystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle device is a vehiclenavigation device, a side view camera or a rear view camera.
 6. Thevehicle safety system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: adisplay unit configured to show information of the vehicle device. 7.The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processingunit is configured to generate the drive signal when identifying thepupil position is at the one of the at least two sub-regions for apredetermined time interval.
 8. The vehicle safety system as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to identifyblinks according to a plurality of image frames outputted by the sensingunit, and generate the drive signal when identifying the pupil positionis at the one of the at least two sub-regions with a predeterminednumber of blinks.
 9. The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the sensing unit is disposed on eyeglasses, a headwear accessoryor a portable device.
 10. A vehicle safety system comprising: a lightsource configured to emit light toward an eyeball to generate a glint onthe eyeball; a sensing unit configured to capture an image framecontaining a glint image of the glint; a processing unit configured todetermine an eyeball image range taking the glint image in the imageframe as a center of the eyeball image range, which is a range in theimage frame smaller than the image frame, calculate a pupil positionaccording to a spatial relationship between the glint image and a pupilimage in the eyeball image range, and generate a drive signalcorresponding to the pupil position accordingly; and a control unitconfigured to trigger a vehicle device associated with the pupilposition according to the drive signal.
 11. The vehicle safety system asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the vehicle device is a vehicle navigationdevice, a side view camera or a rear view camera.
 12. The vehicle safetysystem as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: a display unitconfigured to show information of the vehicle device.
 13. The vehiclesafety system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the processing unit isconfigured to generate the drive signal when identifying the pupilposition is at a predetermined position for a predetermined timeinterval.
 14. The vehicle safety system as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe processing unit is further configured to identify blinks accordingto a plurality of image frames outputted by the sensing unit, andgenerate the drive signal when identifying the pupil position is at apredetermined position with a predetermined number of blinks.
 15. Thevehicle safety system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sensing unitis fixed inside a vehicle.
 16. An operating method of a vehicle safetysystem comprising: capturing an image frame containing an eyeball imageof an eyeball; dividing the eyeball image into at least two sub-regionseach corresponding to one of different functions, wherein each of thedifferent functions controls one vehicle device; calculating, by aprocessing unit, a pupil position of the eyeball image in the imageframe, generating a drive signal corresponding to one of the at leasttwo sub-regions in which the pupil position locates; and triggering thevehicle device associated with the one of the at least two sub-regionsin which the pupil position locates according to the drive signal. 17.The operating method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processing unitgenerates the drive signal when identifying the pupil position is at theone of the at least two sub-regions with a predetermined number ofblinks.
 18. The operating method as claimed in claim 16, wherein theprocessing unit generates the drive signal when identifying the pupilposition is at the one of the at least two sub-regions for apredetermined time interval.
 19. The operating method as claimed inclaim 18, further comprising: showing, by a display unit, information ofthe vehicle device.